The Perry Brothers - Ch. 8

Terri and Terry, 15 years old

Christmas carols are being played absolutely everywhere. Atleast 20 christmas trees in every mall. People buying all the toys and chocolate they can. Terry likes christmas itself, but all the shopping centers, schools' celebrations, and the need to make everything christamsy, he can't stand it. Terri is trying to find a gift for Emily. He's been looking at scarves, bags, books, CD's, mini-radios, jewelry, plushes, mugs, everything. Terry has grown sick of the waiting and gives all the brothers' weight for his brother, partly because he's too tired to hold them, and partly to annoy Terri. Every now and then Terri pushes his brother's head away, but ignores him. "Oh, jesus christ! Terri, are you gonna buy anything? Like sometime in the next five years, please?" "Hey, I had to sit and wait the whole time, you were writing that poem. You can wait for a while." "I dont know. My writing took 6 hours alltogether, not 6 DAYS." Terri shakes his head and goes back to the bookshelf. For the 7th time.

   Terri finally found a solution. He buys a nicely decorated mug, a small candy bar, a glittery hair decoration, and a beautiful necklace. Pretty basic Terri. He puts all the things in the mug, tries to giftwrap it neatly, and miserably fails. The brothers go home. The windows are decorated with lights and there's a wreath on the door. Mom is listening to christmas songs while working and dad's taking letters to the mail. "Hey, mom. Emily and I were thinking, if the day after christmas, we could go to her place. The whole family, so you'd get to know Emily's parents and her parents would get to know you." "Well, I think that's a great idea. Emily is a really nice girl and it'd be nice to meet her parents." "So, it's a deal?" "We don't have anything that day, so why not." Terri cheers and goes up stairs with his brother.

   Christmas carols, hot chocolate, gingerbread, and two families in one living room. The parents are talking about their children and the youngsters sneak to Emily's room. Once in the dim room, Terri and Emily get out their presents. They exchange the gifts and Emily loves her present. Terri got a green sweater and headphones. They joke about how it's useful, for Terry too. A quiet christmas song starts playing and there's a small silence. Terri looks into Emily's eyes. They're gleaming beautifully in the dark. She's beautiful. She's kind. She's funny. With her, Terri feels complete. Everything seems right. They always have the best time together. She is the one Terri can see his future with. Emily looks over to Terry, and her eyes are asking for permission. Terry nods slightly and looks away. Emily waits for a few seconds and then wraps her arms around Terri's neck, and jumps into a kiss. After a small silence Terry looks over to his brother. His and Emily's eyes are closed. For them, time has stopped. They're in their own world. There's something magical in them. Their love is passionate and real. Terry's thinking that he should be happy for Terri and he is, but there's something. He looks at his brother, kissing his girlfriend, and feels sad. He's not sure why. The endless kiss finally ends. The couple forgets Terry's existence, and so does Terry himself.

The Perry Brothers - Ch. 7

Terri and Terry, 15 years old

The twins are in domestic science class. They're working in groups and, surprise surprise, they're in the same group. They also have two girls in the group, Jessica and Emily. They're best friends. Finally, the class is over and Emily comes up to the brothers. "Hey, Terri." She tries to clearly show that she is actually talking to Terri, not Terry. "I was thinking if you'd like to go, I donno, like to the movies with me or something." Terri gives a small smile. "You mean like a date?" "Well... Yeah!" "Wow! Well of course." "Great! See you tomorrow 6pm? At the cinema?" Terri nods, amazed. Once Terry and Terri get home, Terri starts getting crazy. "Terry! Did you hear that? She asked me to go on a date! With her! Did you hear that?!" Terry is happy for him. He starts thinking if he should be jealous, but no. He can't. Terri starts running up the stairs. "I gotta get ready!" "Woah, woah! Take it easy, bro. It's tomorrow, okay. Don't hurry!"

   Terri is looking around the movie theatre. People buying popcorn, kids coming out and going through everything that happened. He can't see Emily. Terry sees his brother's worry. "Hey, don't worry. We came here 15 minutes too early. She's not late and neither are we." The brothers have dressed neatly, but casually. Suddenly, Terri sees the most beautiful monster he has ever seen. The brothers' heart starts racing and Terry gets scared by it. Terri feels dizzy. He feels like he's flying. His hands tremble. He can't stand straight. Emily smiles at the amazed Terri. "Hi. What movie do you want to watch?" "Uh... what? Oh, sorry. Well, I was thinking that the movie about the monster, that becomes friends with a human. You know the comedy, action, whatever." "Oh, The Scary Friendship? Yeah, I think that would be cool. Terry, are you okay with that?" Terry shakes his head in confusion. "Wait, what? You're asking me?" "Well, of course. It's my and Terri's date, but you're here, so I don't want you to feel awkward AND have to watch a movie you don't like." Both of the brothers are surprised. Through the 15 years they've lived, Emily is one of the very few people who understand, that Terri and Terry are different people. "Well, first of all, thanks for noticing me, and sure it's fine." They all go to buy tickets and popcorn.

   "It was fun! We should hang out more." Emily kisses Terri on the cheek and he blushes. Emily waves and walks away, but Terri doesn't even realize. The brothers go back home and Terri doesn't talk until they're back in their room. "Terry... I'm 97% sure she's an angel." Terry smiles. "Why 97%?" "Why not? Terry, I'm in love. I'm in love!" "Great. I hope, you won't be screaming it the whole night. Some people wanna sleep, you know." They go to bed and Terry falls asleep almost immediately. Terri looks at his brother's peaceful face and listens to his warm breath. "I love her..." Before he closes his eye, he looks over to Terry once more and whispers a thing neither of them have surprisingly ever said in their life. "And I love you, bro."

The Perry Brothers - Ch. 6

Terri and Terry, 13 years old

The twins are sitting around in a coffee shop and both have hot chocolate. They're both trying to drink their drinks slowly. They's silently waiting. "Hi, guys!" The brothers look up and see a female monster of their age. "Hi, Sam!" they both greet her. Samantha has changed a lot through the four years they've known, but she's still the same old Samantha. "Lily is getting us some tea, but she'll be here soon." "It's really cool to meet her." Even though this isn't a big deal, Terry and Terri are quite nervous. They haven't been meeting a lot of new people in a long time. Samantha has become their best friend and the only friend they feel like they need.

   A pale yellow monster with red hair walks up to the table with two cups of tea. "Oh, there you are! Guys, this is my girlfriend, Lily. Lily, these are my friends, Terri with an "i" and Terry with a "y"." All three smile, give a little wave and Lily sits down. "So, um, what do you guys do? Like your hobbies or something." "Well, I dance... I mean I would, but Terry's always coming up with an exuse, not to." "Hey, I'm not gonna jump around like an idiot, no matter how much you whine." Terry turns to Samantha "Oh, and guess what. Terri cheated in the geography test AGAIN." "I did not!" "Oh reeaally? You just HAPPENED to stare at my test paper and copy my answers?" "Yes! I mean no! I mean, it's pretty hard to not look at, what you're doing, when you're always stuck to me. Literally." Samantha giggles and encourages her lover to join in.

   The four young monsters talk, laugh, and the brothers get to know Samantha's girlfriend better. Once they finished their hot drinks they put on their coats and start leaving. "You guys wanna come shopping with me?" "Sure. But, only if you promise not to stare at one shirt for five hours and then decide not to buy it." Samantha gives Terry's comment a sarcastic laugh. "Hey, honey. I'm sorry I can't come, but I'll see you tonight, okay?" "Yeah. Love ya." Terry, Terri, and Samantha start walking torwards the mall. Samantha stares at the twins' shadow. She doesn't really consider them friends anymore. She has friends now. But shadows are still quite symbolical for her. "So... Lily's nice. Really pretty too." Terri says staring at his brothers tentacles. "Yeah, she really is... But, no. You will never get her. She's mine." The trio laughs. Terri sees a newspaper by a kiosk. The cover has a picture of a two headed monster and smaller picture of the police. "Hey, what's that?" Samantha looks at the headline and her eyes widen up. Terri doesn't have time to read it, because Samantha gets quickly in the way. "Nah, it's nothing." Terry gets nervous and stutters: "Uh, yeah it's nothing." Terri is displeased. He remembers faintly the time mom and dad hid some news from him and his brother.

   "Sooo... whaddya think?" Terry puts down the coat he was looking at, when Samantha comes out of the dressing room with a dark turqouise dress, completed with a gold coloured belt. Terri gives his approval. "It's nice. I like it." Samantha looks over to Terry, expecting for a comment, but Terry is looking in the opposite direction. "Teerryy..." "Oh, uh... sorry, Sam. I was just... Nothing. I like it too. The belt gives a nice shape to it. Um, yeah. The color's really cool." Samantha looks at Terry compassionately. "Terry. It's fine. Just don't think about that." Terri is quite out of the conversation. "Think about what?" "Nothing. You guys wanna go to my house, play games?" "Sure!" Secrets. Hiding. Terri is the worst at this. Not knowing is painful.

The Perry Brothers - Ch. 5

Terri and Terry, 9 years old

Mom and dad are drinking coffee and the twins have strawberry milkshakes. Mom and dad are listening to the radio and Terry and Terry are playing with cards. Dad breaks the silence "Have you come up with something to do with the school performance day?" "No... Terri just won't let go of his dancing idea." Terry mutters. "Once again, WE have to do it together. We can never pair up with anyone else." Terri complains and goes back into the game. Their parents look at each other, thinking the same thing. Mom goes to the kitchen to get more sugar and says: "Well, I think you have advantage. Since you're brothers." "How does that change anything? It's even worse that way." Terry says shaking his head. "When's the performance day gonna be?" dad asks. "Valentine's day... And we have to make valentine's day cards too." Terri says. Terry stops for a while and then excitedly says: "Cards. I think, I might know our solution!"

   Terri and Terry are at the school yard, waiting for them to get inside with all the other kids. As always, there are a few kids screaming and laughing, but it's still silent. The brothers can hear each other's breaths more clearly than ever and it's nerve-racking. Terri can feel someone staring at them. He turns around and almost falls over, due to Terry not realizing that they're turning around. It's the new girl in class, Samantha. She has been here only for half a year. She has grey skin with a small shade of blue, and black scaly hair. "Hi." Her small voice with no emotion doesn't get an answer. Terry and Terri have been talking about her and her creepiness. She doesn't have any friends, though it doesn't seem to be bothering her. The twins are saved by the clock from this awkward situation and they go inside.

   Mrs. Beanery rings the bell and starts talking: "Hi, everybody! Everyone's got their performances ready, I assume." Half of the class answers with a nervous "yes". Terry is feeling confident, while Terri is slightly nervous, even though he's usually more social. There were a lot of singing performances, where you barely heard anything of the high pitched, quiet voice. Finally after a lot of small plays and a couple of comedians it's Terry's and Terri's turn. They take their props. White gloves for Terry, a top hat for Terri, and a pack of cards. While doing their simple tricks, both of them have their hands trembling, but they keep the smiles on their faces. The audience is amazed and the twins feel good about themselves. They must have done something right.

   After the show, they go back to their place and there's one more performance. It's Samantha. She takes a small piece of paper filled with text and goes to the front of the classroom. "People kick dirt and stones on them. People step on them. People ignore them. They're just like us. They live their lives, they laugh, they feel sorrow. They're complex creatures, but they're very plain. They're everywhere. They exist, thanks to light, but they're everything but light. I play with them. I run with them. I tell them my secrets. They make me feel important. Only a few understand, how special they are. They're my friends. They're shadows." The classroom stays quiet for a long while, before Mrs. Beanery starts clapping, just like after every show. The other students' expressions are either bored or confused. Both Terry and Terri are amazed. Terry has been reading enough poetry to know that, that was quite amazing from a nine-year-old, and Terri has had to look at Terry reading poetry enough to know that it was "pretty cool". Neither of them knew, that she had it in her. Also the "They're my friends. They're shadows." confused them a lot. Is it a metaphor? Is it true? Is there something wrong with her? Samantha smiles once she sees the stunned faces on the twins.

   Everyone takes out their Valentine's day cards. Mrs. Beanery instructs everyone to walk around the classroom and put the cards in the receivers' desks. Terri and Terry put their cards as secretly as possible, because they don't want their own brother to know, who they possibly have a crush on. Once everyone's put their cards to the desks, they go back to their places and see what they got. In the middle of the brothers' desk, there's one purple card, decorated with pink flowers. The twins read it silently. "You make me fly. You're in my dreams. You take me to a place where I've never been before, every day. From ???, to Ter-" Both of them stop, look at each other, look at the card, and freeze in confusion. Terri finally opens his mouth "It... It says T-E-R-R... an-" "A heart." Terry finishes. "The last letter is marked with a heart... How are we supposed to know, who it's for?" "No idea." They look around for a bit, as if the answer was floating around them. There's no one to go talk to and expect, that they'd start talking to the one it was meant to. There's no one to ask, since the senders name in the card is "???". Terry and Terri look at each other and with the look in his eye, Terry sends his brother a simple message. "Perhaps we'll never know."

The Perry Brothers - Ch. 4

Terri and Terry, 7 years old. Just want to point out, that for some people, this chapter is slightly confusing, because there's some school stuff here and the school system is different in different countries. I come from Finland and I'm writing it the way it's in Finland, not beacause I'd assume Terri and Terry are from Finland. It's just because it's easier for me to write, because that's what I know. But I did add in a school bus, which we don't have in Finland. Enjoy!

The boys get up from their bunkbed. Both of them are extremely excited, because today is their first day of school. They put on a red T-shirt and a gray hoodie. "Boys! Come for breakfast, or you'll be late from school." Mom's voice travels through the house from the kitchen. Terry and Terri quickly run downstairs and sit by the table. Both of them have sugared wheat cereal. "You excited for school?" dad said smiling, looking at the twins quickly eating their breakfast. Terry awnsers in the middle of eating: "Do you really have to ASK to know?" " Terry. No talking with your mouth full." "Sorry, mom..." Once Terri has finished, he almost leaves, but Terry makes him wait. Not for too long though. When they were both finished, they got their caps and backpack. "Come on!" They say at the same time. Finally their parents come and they all go to the bus stop, just around the corner.

   The day before was a nightmare. They were trying to buy a backpack that they could share, because having two backpacks on one back, if you didn't know, doesn't really work. Terri wanted one with lights, but Terry wanted a leather one. Then Terry wanted one with 3D decoration and Terri wanted one with pictures. After a lot of debate, they got a white backpack, made out of fabric that you could draw on easily. They made a line in the middle and drew on their own sides. Now, they were happy and ready. After a while the bus came. Terri and Terry waved from the window and mom took a picture.

   After a long way, they're finally at the school. All the kids get off, some of them looking at Terri and Terry, a bit confused. The bell rings almost right away and everyone goes inside. The twins struggle for a while, looking for the right classroom, but find it eventually. The classroom walls have been decorated with alphabet posters, colourful drawings and pictures of the teacher's previous students. There are 21 desks with name tags on them, and everyone goes to sit by the one with their name on. There is one desk at the back with two name tags, Terry and Terri. They're the wrong way round, so the brothers change the order.

   Once everyone's seated the teacher rings a small bell to make everyone quiet. "Alright now. Hello everyone and welcome. This is our classroom and I am your teacter, mrs Beanery. Let's all introduse ourselves, shall we." Terri starts thinking,The teacher has that kind of "the old lady next door, that get's mad at you for stepping on the flowers" voice. All the little monsters start sayng their names quietly and nervously. "I'm Allison..." "I'm Zack." "My name is Rick!" The list goes on and on... "I'm Amanda." Terry starts wondering, why everyone's being so quiet. Then he realizes, that it's his turn. "Uh... I'm Terry." He says quickly and a few small seconds (that feel like forever) later he adds: "With a "y"..." "And I'm Terri. With an "i"." Terry feels so embarrased. Such a simple thing and he fails.

   "Okay, these are your English books. A text book and an exercise book. But you are not allowed to draw or write anything in the text book." the teacher sayd emphasizyng on the "not" and "anything". Terri and Terry get two exercise books and one text book in front of them. Terri raises his hand and nervously says: "Teacher? Mrs... Beanery. I didn't get a text book." "Oh. Well, I thought, that you would be more than happy to share with your brother." Terri wishes, that he could say, no I would not be happy, but stays silent. The brothers look at each other. They both know, that these would be the longest years of their lives.

The Perry Brothers - Ch. 3

Terri and Terry, 4 years old

The brothers are in their room. They have a bunkbed, but because of obvious reasons the other one isn't used for sleeping. The lower bed has two big piles of stuffed animals, one for each twin, and a small blackboard with a box full of crayons. On the floor there are pieces of a toytrain track. The track hasn't been finished due to fights about wether it should go under the table or on to the shelves. The walls are dark tourqoise, decorated with pictures of trees and clouds. Sometimes dad has had to put a chair in front of the closet doors, because the boys thought that humans could get through just any door.

   Terri and Terry are sitting on the writing desk, next to the open window. Terri is playing with pirate boats and Terry is colouring a colouring book. "Terryyyh, play with meee." "But I'm not done with this picture yet." Terri sighs and looks at his brother, intensly colouring a picture of a football playing monster. Terri continues with his games for a while, but then gets bored: "Come on, Terry! You can finish it later." "But I want to finish it now!" Terri tries to get his brother's attention with peace, but it doesn't work, so he kicks Terry with one of his tentacles. "Hey!" Terry shouts and kicks his brother back. Both of the brothers start smacking each others faces and kicking each others tentacles. Finally both of them are pulling each others sleeves with all the strenght that they have. After a while Terry finally let's go, in attempt of fooling his brother, but the fight takes an ugly turn. When Terry lets go with Terri still pulling with all his strenght, they both fall backwards, and out of the window.

   The twins are sitting on a hospital bed, both moping. Terri's upper arm has broken and is hanging from his neck. Terry's left horn is broken and wrapped up. Both of them have two tentacles strained, making Terri have only one healthy tentacle, while his brother has two. The silence is torture. Terri tries to think of something else to feel a bit better. The hospital smells funny. The doctors are so calm, that it's annoying. It's not helping. Every single thought makes him think about his "stupid brother". Their parents come into the room, breathing heavily. "Oh, we were so worried." dad says. Then they realize the grumpy expressions on their sons faces. "It wasn't my fault!" Terri quickly shouts in defense, even though no-one claimed him to be responsible. The young parents look scared. They have no idea what to do in this situation. "Everything about it is your fault!" Terry says quickly and looks away. The mother tries to lighten the mood: "Hey, um, we brought you balloons." She tries to offer them to the brothers and both of them look at the balloons, but then go back to moping. She sighs and ties the balloons to the end of the bed. A yellow one on Terry's side and a blue one on Terri's side. "They're your favourite colours..." mom says, after that wondering what sense was there in saying it. But actually it was useful. Dad got an idea from it and said: "You remember that song, where they're singing about colours? Yellow and blue made green. Green is a pretty nice colour, isn't it. The leaves, the grass, lots of nice things are green. When you combine two nice things, you do end up with an even nicer thing." Mom realized, what he was going for and so did Terry and Terri, though they were not convinsed easyly, so mom said: "Boys... We think that you are both amazing. But we also believe, that if you work together, you become even greater. You're brothers. And even though you wouldn't think so, you are pretty lucky be brothers." Terri looks up to his brother, that is still quite unsure. "Terry. Please. I didn't mean it. Really, I didn't mean it." Terry turns his head to look at his brother. He sees his eye wide and shining. Terri is staring straight into Terry's soul with that adorable eye, and he can't say no. "I'm sorry, Terri. I didn't mean it eather." They hug each other and Terry can feel a small, warm tear touching his cheek.

The Perry Brothers - Ch. 2

Terri and Terry, 2 years old.

The brothers are quietly in the kitchen, eating their sereal. Terri has FruityFun and Terry has ChocolatePops. They could see all the ars going past their house. It's slightly cold and outside it's cloudy. Suddenly, they hear noise from the living room and go to see what's going on. Mom and dad are watching TV. The news are on. "Why are there so many things like this on the news these days? It's horrible." mom says. "There has always been things like these. The media's just ran out of news, so they start telling all of these." the twins' dad says. Mom sighs, watches the news a while and the looks away: "Oh, just turn it off. I can't stand it. It makes me think of Terri and Terry..." "Oh, honey. It's not that bad. We know that our boys would never do that. These things always have something to do with a bad place to grow up or bad parents or some other things like that." Terri gets curious and peeks to see what's on the news, and obviously, Terry follows. There's a picture of some other conjoined twins, a lot older than them though. They're talking about something strange. Terry and Terri can't understand a lot of the things, because they're the kind of special "adult words", you know.

   They can't listen for much longer, because their mom finally notices them and quickly takes them back to the kitchen. She goes back to the living room, without a word. Both of the brothers are thinking, what the news were, what did the news have to do with them, and why weren't they allowed to know. Perhaps someday they'd understand.

The Perry Brothers - Ch. 1

A white room in a hospital. A peach coloured female monster with four tenticles is lying on the bed, stressed and in pain. She's giving birth. She opens her one green eye, to look at a yellow male monster, that's holding her hand. The monster has three horns and big gentle eyes. With just one look she could tell, that he is thinking to her "You'll be fine". The doctor can see a dark-yellow head with two horns, one on each side of the head. When they finally get the head out, they're suprised by a third horn, that is soon followed by another head.

   The parents are alone in the room. The mother is holding a dark-yellow baby boy with four arms, seven tentacles and two heads. Everyone was suprised. The twins share a body and also a stomach, lungs and a heart. The heart was the thing that fooled all the doctors, since there was only one heartbeat, they thought there'd be only one baby. The righthand head has a slightly shorter neck and one horn spiraling on the top of the head. "Are you sure, we can do this?" the mother asks the father. He thinks a little bit before talking, but finally says: "Ofcourse. Why not?" "Well, you know... We weren't expecting for twins. And definately conjoined ones. He... They are our first kids. That's quite a challenge." The dad nods slightly with worry on his face, but then starts talking: "I know it's gonna be harder to raise them, than some other kids. But we're gonna love them equally and they will become handsome, clever and polite gentlemen. You know why? Because you are their mother." "Thanks, sweetie." They spend a while in silence, looking at the young monsters sleeping. The father finally said: "They're adorable, aren't they. What should their names be?" "I haven't actually thought about that... I like Terry."

"It's a nice name. What about the other one?" "I think they both could be Terry." The dad looks at his wife with confusion. "Uh, honey... You can't name them both Terry." "How about the other one is with an "i" and the other one with a "y"?" "Well... Uh, sure. Maybe this one should be with an "i"." he said and gently touched the cheeck of the one with only one horn. "Okay. So it is. This is Terri, with an "i", and this is Terry, with a "y". I love you." She says and looks up to her husband. "I love you too."